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History

As a City on a Hill: The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon

From a Bancroft Prize鈥搘inning historian, the fascinating story of how an obscure Puritan sermon was remade into a founding document of American identity

Paperback

Price:
$23.95/拢20.00
ISBN:
Published (US):
Oct 6, 2020
Published (UK):
Oct 27, 2020
Pages:
368
Size:
5.5 x 8.5 in.

鈥淔or we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill,鈥� John Winthrop warned his fellow Puritans at New England鈥檚 founding in 1630. More than three centuries later, Ronald Reagan remade that passage into a timeless celebration of American promise. How were Winthrop鈥檚 long-forgotten words reinvented as a central statement of American identity and exceptionalism? In As a City on a Hill, Daniel Rodgers tells the surprising story of one of the most celebrated documents in the canon of the American idea, revealing how nationalism encourages the invention of 鈥渢imeless鈥� texts to straighten out the crooked realities of the past.

Awards and Recognition

  • World's 2018 Books of the Year